1. Field of the Invention
Various embodiments of the present invention relate to an information processing apparatus, a detecting apparatus and method thereof for detecting abnormality of the information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has become important for a PC (Personal Computer) to implement a strong security feature in order to prevent problems such as external information exposure. Security features include, for example biometric authentication that unlocks a PC on the basis of biometric information, such as a fingerprint of a user, etc. In biometric authentication, matching is performed between the biometric data generated on the basis of a user's biometric information read by a biometric sensor and the reference biometric data to be a criterion of the user stored in the PC.
When a security feature, such as biometric authentication, is used in place of a password to lock a BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), the security feature is used before the OS (Operating System) is started. Thus, if the biometric authentication becomes impossible to be carried out by a failure of a biometric sensor, for example due to the destruction of reference biometric data, etc., the OS cannot be started even if the hard disk, etc., is replaced. In order to deal with such a situation, a specific password for a maintenance person is set in advance, and it has been customary for the maintenance person to start the OS using this password to identify the cause of the failure of the biometric authentication.
However, if a specific password for a maintenance person is set, a malicious third person might steal the password, and the OS might be started in an unauthorized manner.
Regarding security systems using biometric authentication, there are, for example techniques described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002-062803, 2005-284452, and 2006-031304.